The 10 most unethical people in business

We Studied 38 Incidents of CEO Bad Behavior and Measured Their Consequences

To examine how corporations handle allegations of CEO misbehavior, we conducted an extensive review of news media between 2000 and 2015. We identified 38 incidents where a CEO’s behavior garnered a meaningful level of media coverage (defined as more than 10 unique news references). We categorized these incidents as follows:

34% involved reports of a CEO lying to the board or shareholders over personal matters, such as a drunk driving offense, undisclosed criminal record, falsification of credentials, or other behavior.

21% involved a sexual affair or relations with a subordinate, contractor, or consultant.

16% involved CEOs making use of corporate funds in a manner that is questionable but not strictly illegal.